Sadie Was A Lady (44 page)

Sadie’s mouth gaped in surprise. ‘Go ’way, Grandma! Well, yer do surprise me.’

‘Doesn’t surprise me,’ Joe said, his nod saying that his mind agreed with his mouth. ‘Yer can tell by lookin’ at him that he can take care of himself. Him and Spike might act daft but, believe me, they’re nobody’s fools.’

Sarah tilted her head, her eyes tender. ‘Joe O’Hanlon, will yer stop giving that empty pipe the glad eye and put some tobacco in it? Yer look like a fish out of water when yer not puffing away at the ruddy thing.’

‘I can’t do right for doin’ wrong, can I, queen?’ Joe gave Sadie an over-the-top wink. ‘If I light up I get accused of burnin’ money and filling the room with smoke. If I don’t light up I look like a ruddy fish! There’s just no pleasing this wife of mine.’

Sadie sighed with pleasure as she laced her fingers and laid her arms flat on the table. Her eyes travelled the room and she told herself that this was what you called a home. A fire crackling in the grate, comfortable lived-in furniture and a kettle keeping warm on the hob. And most importantly of all, the two wonderful people who had made this
place
what it was with their love and warmth. They had taken her into their home and into their hearts. She idolised them, and for herself asked nothing more of life than to stay in the shelter of their love.

The market was crowded, as it had been every day that week. It seemed everyone wanted something new for Christmas, even if it was second-hand. Sadie had never seen anything like the mass of heaving bodies as they jostled for position near the stalls. She was worried at first, as the tables were pushed further and further back, but the crowd were so good-natured, so full of the festive spirit, she left her worries behind and began to enjoy herself. The Christmas tontines had been paid out and the women were eager for bargains on which to spend their hard-saved money. All year they’d been passing over coppers they could ill-afford to a collector, now they were reaping the benefit and thanking God they’d persevered with those weekly payments.

‘Have yer got anythin’ for me, Sadie?’ Elsie pushed her way between two women who were arguing about which jumper to buy for their mother. ‘I’m relying on yer, girl, for somethin’ nice to wear to a party me and my feller have been invited to.’

Sadie winked. ‘Can yer hang on a minute, Elsie, until I’ve served these two customers? They won’t be long, will yer, ladies?’

‘It’s not me, queen, it’s me sister here what’s being long-winded. She wants to buy this green jumper for me mam when she knows bloody well me mam thinks green is an unlucky colour. Me Auntie Fanny bought a green coat once, and didn’t she go and die the very next day? Me mam’s refused to have anythin’ green in the house since, and soft girl here knows that.’

‘Ooh, I feel the same way as yer mam, girl.’ Elsie thought she’d hurry the proceedings along. ‘My neighbour says that it’s unlucky to say that green’s unlucky because God made all the trees and the grass green. But me, I wouldn’t take no chance. Best to be on the safe side, that’s my motto.’

The doubting sister gave in, but not gracefully. ‘Oh, all right, have it yer own way or I’ll never hear the end of it. If anyone in the family pegged out I’d get the blame.’

Sadie gave a sigh of satisfaction as she pocketed their sixpence. The two women had been so long making up their minds anyone would think they were in George Henry Lees and debating about jumpers costing pounds instead of coppers. ‘Thank heaven for that, Elsie. I was beginning to think they were here for the day.’

Elsie grinned. ‘It was sad about their Auntie Fanny dying the day after buying a new coat, though, wasn’t it? Poor woman never even got the chance to put it on her back. I was goin’ to ask them what happened to it ’cos I rather fancy a green coat meself, but I thought it might sound a trifle indelicate.’

‘Especially when yer’d put them off buying green. I only hope they don’t pass when I’m showing yer the blouses I’ve put away for yer to look at. Two of them are green.’

Elsie eyed the stall. ‘Yer don’t seem to have much left, Sadie. Have yer been busy?’

‘That’s putting it mildly, Elsie – we’ve been rushed off our feet. But I’ve got a few nice things put away for me best customers, so will yer keep yer eye on the stall for us while I fetch them?’

‘Bring whatever yer’ve got, Sadie, ’cos I’ll have a couple of things off yer, and me neighbour said if yer had anything exciting to get it for her.’

On her way to the box under the back table, Sadie stopped by Mary Ann. ‘How’s it going, Auntie Mary? Busy enough for yer, is it?’

‘Best week I’ve ever had.’ Mary Ann patted her cheek. ‘It’ll be a ten-pound turkey we’ll be having this year.’ She looked at the customer she was serving and narrowed her eyes. ‘Yer didn’t hear that by any chance, did yer, Milly? I don’t want you turning up on me doorstep on Christmas Day with your gang.’

‘That’s charming, that is! Yer a cold-hearted cow, Mary
Ann
Worsley, so yer are.’ Milly stretched herself to her full height. ‘I wouldn’t lower meself to come where I’m not wanted. Me and me husband, and the six kids, will make do with a quarter pound of corned beef for our Christmas dinner. We may be poor but we’ve got our pride.’

‘I didn’t know yer had six children, Milly,’ Sadie said. ‘I thought yer only had two.’

‘She has only got two, she’s pullin’ yer bleedin’ leg.’ Mary Ann thought Sadie had come a long way in the last six months, but it was still easy to pull the wool over her eyes. ‘And don’t be losing any sleep over her havin’ corned beef for her Christmas dinner, either. She’s just been braggin’ about how well off she is. The turkey’s paid for, she’s been in a club at the greengrocers, the corner shop and the sweetshop. She’ll be havin’ a better Christmas than any of us. Isn’t that right, Milly?’

‘It is right, Mary Ann, but would yer mind letting me do me own bragging? Yer see, I hadn’t finished! On top of all the things yer’ve mentioned, we’ve also got a bottle of port wine and a bottle of sherry.’

‘My God, Milly, there’s no flies on you, they’re all ruddy bluebottles! But I hope yer have a lovely time and I apologise for doing yer braggin’ for yer. I don’t know what came over me, stealing yer thunder like that.’

‘That’s all right, Mary Ann, I’m not about to take the huff when it’s a time of peace on earth and good will to all men.’

‘Bloody hell!’ Mary Ann turned to Sadie. ‘Twenty years I’ve known Milly, an’ she hasn’t noticed I’m not a flamin’ man.’

‘Now, now, Auntie Mary, peace on earth and all that, remember?’ Sadie grinned. ‘Anyway, I’ve left Elsie minding the stall. I’d better scarper.’

There were six blouses in the bag Sadie took back to her table. One, in pale blue with long sleeves and a tie neck, she hung over her shoulder. ‘I put this one away for meself to wear on Christmas Day. These others are all in your size, Elsie, and yer goin’ to have a job to choose ’cos they’re all nice.’

Elsie took all five. ‘I’ll have three and me mate will have the other two.’ She passed three shillings over. ‘Keep the tanner change as a Christmas box for yerself. Yer’ve been good to me and I appreciate it. All the best to yer, Sadie, an’ I’ll see yer in the New Year.’

Sadie felt quite choked. Next year she’d make sure she gave each one of her regular customers a greetings card. Just a small token to thank them for their continued support and for making a friend of her. She filed the idea away in her mind as she served the never-ending stream of customers. At three o’clock her stall was nearly empty and she had nothing to display.

‘Auntie Mary, can I get some more stuff out? My table’s as bare as Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard.’

Mary Ann shook her head. ‘If yer put any more out, sunshine, we’ll have nothing left for tomorrow, and it’s going to be busier than it’s been today. We can’t have people coming first thing to find we’ve nowt to sell. So just clear yer table and come and give me a hand.’

That suited Sadie down to the ground. There was nothing she liked better than working alongside her friend. Moving between the tuppence with a hole and thruppence without a hole, laughing and joking with the customers, her excitement began to mount. This was going to be her first year for celebrating Christmas and she felt like a child again.

‘I’m collecting the tree when we’ve finished, Auntie Mary. Tommy picked it out for me and he said the branches are nice and thick and it’s four feet tall.’

‘That’s nice, girl. Sarah and Joe are in for a big surprise, aren’t they?’

Sadie felt as though her heart would burst with happiness. ‘I’ve got some tinsel and some silver balls hidden in me wardrobe, and a little fairy to go on top of the tree.’

‘Yer could have sat on top of the tree yerself, girl, and saved yerself a few coppers. Yer’d make a good fairy.’ Mary Ann’s brow creased. ‘I suppose yer have got something to stand the tree in, haven’t yer?’

Sadie looked puzzled. ‘How d’yer mean, stand the tree in?’

‘Well, yer not expectin’ the bleedin’ thing to stand on its own, are yer?’ The stall-holder raised her eyes to the sky. ‘Yes, that’s exactly what she is expecting.’ She looked at Sadie. ‘I hate to burst yer bubble, sunshine, but yer need a bucket of sand or something like that to keep it standing steady.’ She spun around. ‘Maggie Malone, will yer stop yer coughin’ and sneezin’ all over me good clothes? I’ve got to sell them, yer know.’

Maggie wiped the back of her hand across her nose. ‘I didn’t have no cold when I left our house, Mary Ann Worsley. It’s only come on me since I’ve been standin’ here freezin’ to bleedin’ death while you two are nattering away as though it was a summer’s day and folk like me have got nowt else to do but wait around until yer decide to favour us with yer assistance.’

‘My God, Maggie, for someone who’s pretending to be dying of pneumonia, yer can’t half talk. I’ll be with yer in two shakes of a lamb’s tail, but in the meantime don’t be coughing all over me customers, if yer don’t mind. They’re me bread and butter, and if you put them in a sickbed I won’t be gettin’ any bread and butter.’

Mary Ann put a hand on Sadie’s arm. ‘You run and see the man who’s selling the trees and ask if he’s any suggestions, while I see to Moaning Minnie before she lays a duck egg. And will yer just look at the gob on the one standing next to her? In the name of God, Vera, yer face would stop a ruddy clock! Anyone would think yer were in agony.’

‘Ooh, I am, Mary Ann.’ Vera turned her head from side to side to make sure no one was listening over her shoulder. After all, it was a very delicate problem, not one to be discussed in front of strangers at a stall in Paddy’s market. ‘It’s me bleedin’ piles – they’re torturing me something chronic.’

Sadie turned the corner of the street and set the tree down on the ground. She’d struggled this far with it, but if someone had paid her to, she couldn’t carry it another yard. Her arm was tired and her hands and legs tingling from the sharp pine needles. Anyway, Peter had promised to meet her so she’d stand here until he came. The tree hadn’t felt heavy when she’d tried it, but since Spike had set it firmly in a block of wood it weighed a ton. Mind you, it was a good idea of Spike’s, she would never have thought of it.

‘Need a hand, do yer, Sadie?’ Peter grinned. ‘Yer look all-in.’

‘Then I look as I feel.’ Sadie smiled back, happy to see him. ‘D’yer know, this is the one time I’m really glad to see that ugly mug of yours. I could manage meself if it wasn’t so awkward, but me hands are scratched to blazes with it.’

‘Because yer’ve been doin’ it the wrong way, soft girl. Yer need a man on the job, that’s the top and bottom of it. Women are hopeless.’

‘There’s only one way to carry it, Peter, so don’t be so blinkin’ big-headed.’

‘No, there’s two ways to carry it – the right way and the wrong way. You, of course, being a woman, were doing it the wrong way.’ Peter rubbed his hands together then pushed up the sleeves of his donkey jacket. ‘Now, stand aside and watch an expert at work.’ He bent down and gripped the tree at the very bottom, between the block of wood and the branches, and after lifting it effortlessly he
let
it tilt forward so the tree was horizontal and away from any part of his body. ‘See, Sadie, it’s the way yer hold yer mouth.’

Sadie lifted her hands in mock surrender. ‘Okay, I give in, I’m stupid.’

‘You are not stupid!’ Peter was quick to defend her. ‘Yer just didn’t think.’

‘I am stupid, Peter, so don’t argue with me. I’ve struggled all the way home with it, cutting me hands and legs in the process and laddering me stockings into the bargain. Then you come along, clever clogs, and with a “hey presto” yer make it look as easy as wink.’

‘Well, let’s get it down to yer grandma’s so I can go home. Me mam was putting me dinner on the table when I came out to meet yer, and she’ll skin me alive if I let it get cold.’

‘Will yer stand it in front of the door for us? Me grandma doesn’t know anything about it, and I want to surprise her. So when I’ve knocked on the door we’ll both hide.’

‘I can’t play hide-and-seek, Sadie, not when me dinner’s gettin’ cold. One thing me mam’s got no sense of humour over is spending her time making a nice dinner for us and then seeing it wasted. If yer think I’m pulling yer leg, ask me dad. He got his dinner on top of his head once, just for letting it cool down.’

‘Now I don’t believe that, Peter Townley, not of your mam. Yer having me on again, aren’t yer? Trying to wind me up.’

‘I told yer to ask me dad if yer don’t believe me. All over his head she tipped it. He said it didn’t taste nearly as nice as it would have done in his mouth. And the best of it was, he’d only nipped down the yard to the lavvy to spend a penny.’ Peter puckered his brow and scratched his head. ‘Me dad must have been put off goin’ to the lavvy for life ’cos I haven’t once seen him go down the yard since.’

‘You don’t half tell some tall stories, Peter Townley. It’s to be hoped that when yer get a girlfriend you’ll have the
decency
to warn her that she can’t believe a word that comes out of yer mouth.’

‘Well, seeing as it was you brought the subject up, and it was on me mind anyway, when are yer going to come out with me on yer own? It’s not that I object to Tommy and Spike, but I don’t want to spend me life going out with them, there’s no future in it. When me mates in work ask if I’ve got a girlfriend, I have to tell them I’ve got a third share in one.’